(3 of 3)
For the Grand to live up to its name, it must produce difficult plays in provocative ways. Phillips has faced up to that challenge by staging Timon of Athens, Shakespeare's relentlessly cynical story of a generous man who lavishes his fortune on friends, finds himself deserted by them, then retreats into the wilderness and vows to destroy his native city. The production is deft and vividly detailed, but takes too detached an approach to the play's excesses of vengeance. Timon's disillusionment should amount to more than a rage at betrayal—he should make an unbearable discovery about human nature—yet William Hutt, although forceful and majestic, does not attain that philosophical dimension. In the almost unplayable part of Timon's rebel ally Alcibiades (a role so ill explained that Phillips apologizes for it in the program), Maurice Good fails : utterly. Moreover, Phillips' resetting of the show from ancient Athens to the turn of the 20th century seems arbitrary; during what should be a horrific conclusion—the conquest of the city—the olive drab of the soldiers and the formal dinner clothes of the city fathers are distracting and pointless. Still, the rendition compares favorably with the BBC'S in its Shakespeare series.
Warts and all, Timon demonstrates the value of a repertory theater: it does not depend upon the popularity of a single production and is therefore free to experiment. Phillips has mounted a season with much of the style of his past world-class efforts. He gives ample reason to hope for future grandeur.